Saved by the (Taco) Bell

Welcome, serial reader, as I give you the second in our occasional series of American fast food reviews. Yes, this time it's the legendary Taco Bell!

We sampled the delights of Taco Bell on our journey up to Redding, our base for visiting Lake Shasta. As with our previous Wendy's visit, this was a roadside Taco Bell in what approximates to a motorway service area here in the US - basically a junction on the interstate, in the middle of nowhere, with some food and fuel places. Taco Bell does what it says on the tin - it serves tacos and other attempts at fast Mexican-style foods, but let's face it, these items are about as Mexican as a Pizza Hut pizza is Italian.

Helen's been nagging me to go to Taco Bell for a while now; such is the power of advertising. It's especially ironic given that she doesn't like spicy food, and can't stand coriander (that's cilantro for our American readers), which rules out pretty much everything with a Mexican hint to it. Anyway, we pulled up at the Taco Bell in Dunnigan on I-5, and here's what we saw:

Well, it says, "Dining Room Open", but this turned out to be not entirely true, so once again it was drive-thru. For a European this is still an unusual and awkward experience, especially when you're driving a tiny car that's a lot lower than your typical American lardmobile. Helen went for quesadillas, primarily to compare with the home-made version which has become fairly common at our place since Christmas:

I of course went for the eponymous tacos:

So how was it?

Well, I love this kind of stuff - oniony tomato-y goodness with lots of hot sauce on it - and it was hot and fresh. Sure, it was obviously cheap and about as authentic as my attempts at an American accent, but from my perspective this knocks Wendy's into the proverbial cocked hat (look it up, American readers).

Taco Bell: 6.5 out of 10. A guilty pleasure.